Sacramento CA; April 2023

We’d just spent several days at Lake Tahoe, visiting friends and relations and playing in the snow. On Sunday 4/2 Alice and Jenn headed back east, and Kyle’s family returned to their home near San Francisco.  We took Anna and Brian back to Sacramento and had lunch at Mendocino Farms again.  Then we dropped them off at the train station to return to Oakland and we were on our own, missing everybody.   

Inspiring

We decided to stroll around Discovery Park.  But the road to it was closed because the park was flooded.  Instead we went to Orchard Park for a walk.  We crossed a somewhat swollen canal and met an interesting man; Brian Buchanan, athletic director and basketball coach at a nearby high school.  He explained that at high tide the water in the canal could reverse direction if the water-gates nearer to San Francisco Bay were open.  He told us how the salmon find their way upstream by smell, tho some were misled by following their friends (fish have peer groups too).  This topic led to his efforts to mentor kids.  His advice; “If you’re the smartest person in the room, find another room.”  Don’t concentrate on things that you excel at; to grow you must do something new.  He was inspirational and has surely improved many lives.

We checked into our VRBO house.  It looked like there had been a power failure; the dishwasher’s cycle had been interrupted, the dryer was full of wet towels and the thermometer’s clock was wrong.  We searched the house for the circuit breaker panel to reset the dishwasher. 

Downers

We went shopping for supplies.  Our first stop was a Safeway grocery.  I’d hoped to buy some yogurt for breakfasts, but apparently people in Sacramento don’t eat much yogurt; Safeway had only one brand in small sizes and it was Greek-style.  We went to a Target to look for kitchen towels (our house wasn’t very well equipped).  In the parking lot we saw a small gray tabby cat with a white chest by itself, going into some bushes.  He looked a bit like Calvin, my best animal friend. Outside the store we saw the cat again.  I tried to coax it closer but it shied away.  Next door was a Bed Bath And Beyond—a good place to buy towels if it was still open; the chain is near bankruptcy.  The lights were on, but the door was locked.  Thru the window we saw that all the shelves were empty. 

We had a nice dinner at Himalaya Vegan Organic Restaurant.  A mural of jagged peaks was on the wall, and Buddhist chanting accompanied the solemn music.  The food wasn’t like Indian food; we were served a plate of half a dozen portions of fresh steamed vegetables with delicious sauces.  For dessert I had a slice of key lime pie, very rich and tasty, but somehow different; maybe normal key lime pie has dairy in it.

On Monday 4/3 we returned to the Target store to buy a Scrabble game and saw the cat again.  A woman with two children saw it too.  We all tried to coax it closer.  Instead it ran into the bushes in the parking lot.  We hope that the people who work in the shops are feeding it; it might earn its keep by catching rats. 

Old Sacramento

We strolled around the Old Sacramento historical waterfront district.  The buildings had an Old West style, with wooden sidewalks and tall carved pillars supporting balconies.  Most are now tourist traps, and a few were boarded up; but some offered antique clothing styles.  A shopkeeper told us that he’d been there for 20 years.  During the pandemic he was closed for four months and his sales for the year fell by 40%.  He pointed out that the rate of inflation is higher for some goods than others; housing has increased in price 25%.  The train museum was closing, but we saw some steam engines and a stern-wheeler that’s been converted into a restaurant.

Cousin Rick

Next day we drove to Stockton to meet Pat’s cousin Rick at a Sizzler restaurant.  He regaled us with experiences from his very interesting life.  He was in the Air Force for seven years.  He met his wife Nancy while stationed in Iceland.  They toured the Appalachians by motorcycle and got married in Las Vegas.  Rick was a Forward Air Controller, spotting targets for bombers.  He went on to become a disabled athletics coach.  Rick has diabetes, which runs in his family.  But he said that he could eat anything he wanted to.  “The secret is to think like a pancreas,” he explained.  He methodically counts his calories and calculates how much insulin is needed for them.

While driving back to Sacramento we enjoyed a spectacular sunset.

Homeward

On Wednesday 4/5 we picked up lunches at Mendocino Farms.  At the airport we roamed around trying to get back into Lot A where we’d picked up the car.  But the lot was closed, so we parked it in a garage and sent “after” photos to the owner.

We awkwardly ate our lunches on a bench next to the Alaska ticket counter.  My sandwich was messy; next time I’ll buy a salad.  The woman at the counter checked in two of our bags and then gave us a free “courtesy” check of a third bag.  At the gate they announced that the plane was full and offered to check bags for free.  So we checked two more, paying for only two of the five.